CSX completes five-state Maintenance Jamboree

CSX has performed annual Maintenance Jamborees since 1999, when a machine operator coined the term “Jamboree” to describe the mass gathering of maintenance-of-way crews and equipment in one area. The most recent Jamboree, a $25 million project encompassing five states, concluded over the 2014 July 4 holiday weekend.

The Jamboree, which ran from June 30 to July 7, focused on CSX tracks and bridges across Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Track work was concentrated on key routes between Shelby, Ky. and Greenwood, S.C. and from Bostic to Monroe, N.C. In addition to the track and tie work, CSX crews also converted several open deck bridges to more-modern concrete ballast decks.

More than 525 CSX employees replaced about 68,000 railroad ties and 200,000 feet of rail, and completing nearly 120 miles of surfacing work—“about a year’s worth of rail, crosstie, signal, and bridge work in one week to reduce impact on customers and communities,” CSX noted. “In addition to our regularly scheduled maintenance and infrastructure work, during the Jamboree CSX crews undertook additional engineering projects that promote train safety, reliability, and service, and benefit customers across our network. They also support community safety by helping to maintain smooth highway-rail grade crossings.”

“The annual Maintenance Jamboree is one more example of CSX’s commitment to investing in both the safety and reliability of our network to better serve our customers and the communities in which we operate,” said Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Oscar Munoz. “This program depends on the dedication and hard work of our engineering teams, who worked tirelessly through the holiday period to ensure our network can move customers’ freight efficiently and continue to connect American businesses to the global economy.”